Super Bowl advertising among automobile manufacturers looks to be on the sharp decline this year. In last January’s 2014 Super Bowl, there were a total of 24 automotive advertisements that aired on FOX, the network fortunate enough to gain the rights to the big game.

This year’s gridiron championship showdown will be seen on NBC, and thus far only 13 auto-related advertisements have been secured. During the game, a 30-second spot costs $4.5 million, up about $500,000 (or 12.5 percent) from last year. There are currently 12 of those scheduled, and Ford has signed up for a 90-second spot that will run between the coin toss and the game’s opening kickoff (they got a reduced rate because this is technically not an in-game spot).

Super Bowl Advertising = Maximum Exposure

Why would any company in its right mind pay so much for one Super Bowl advertising spot? Last year’s game between the Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos was the most-watched television program in United States history, with 111.5 million viewers tuned in according to this article by Forbes. And despite the one-sided score (43-8 in favor of Seattle), for the most part people stayed around for the entire game (even at its end, the audience was only five percent less than at the beginning).

Still, that’s a lot of money to invest no matter who you are … and companies like Volkswagen, Jaguar and Lincoln have said publicly that they are using their advertising budget for other things. (That means you won’t be seeing any of those Matthew McConaughey Lincoln ads that have received so much attention.) Conversely, Nissan is dipping its toes into the Super Bowl advertising pool for the first time in nearly two decades. And other than Nissan and the aforementioned Ford ad, Toyota and Mercedes-Benz are the only manufacturers to publicly say “we’re in” for sure.

So far, NBC is said to have sold about 80% of the 30-second in-game spots. So if you happen to have $4.5 million bucks to spare, it isn’t too late to get in on the Super Bowl Advertising fun! Oh, and by the way, NBC is offering a discount if you purchase more than one; you’ll only have to pay $4.4 million each.